This invention relates to a paint dispensing device and to a method of dispensing paint, particularly, but not limited to, a paint spraying device for a golf cup and a method of spraying paint into a golf cup.
An existing method of spraying paint into a golf cup comprises a person taking an aerosol can containing the paint and bending down to direct the paint into the hole to cover the interior of the golf cup, which golf cup forms the periphery of the golf hole.
Disadvantages arise with this type of method because paint is frequently sprayed on to the grass surrounding the golf hole, which paint must later be removed. Also, this method is particularly time consuming in that a person can only spray one side of the golf cup before having to move around the hole to spray the other side of the cup. This procedure is time consuming, given that golf cups often need to be sprayed every day or every few days.
It is an object of the present invention to address the abovementioned disadvantages.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a golf cup spraying device which allows a person to spray paint into a golf cup without having to move around a golf cup.
According to one aspect of the present invention a spraying device for spraying material onto the interior of a recess comprises:
container receiving means for receiving a container of the material to be sprayed;
activation means for activating a discharge of material from a container held in the container receiving means;
turning means for the container receiving means, for turning the container receiving means relative to the interior of a recess to be sprayed; and recess locating means for locating the spraying device relative to a recess to be sprayed.
The recess may be a golf cup of a golf hole.
The material to be sprayed may be paint.
The recess locating means may include an abutment portion for abutting an area at least partially surrounding the edge of a recess to be sprayed. The abutment portion may be ring shaped. The abutment portion may be shaped to conform to the shape of a recess to be sprayed. Friction between the abutment portion and the area around a recess to be sprayed, may, in use, prevent relative movement of the abutment portion and the area around a recess.
The recess locating means may include a bridging section between the abutment portion and a first handle section.
The bridging section may be arranged to receive the container receiving means. The bridging section may form a cage around the container receiving means. The bridging section may allow access to the container receiving means.
The first handle section may be elongate, and/or may be tubular.
The turning means may include a second handle section and may include a neck portion. The second handle section and preferably the neck portion may be mounted for rotational movement relative to the first handle section. The neck section may be elongate and may be tubular. The neck section may be received in the first handle section. The neck section may extend through the entire length of the first handle section. In which case the second handle section may be located at an end of the neck section. The container receiving means may be located at an other end of the neck section.
The first and second handle sections may include low friction abutting sections to allow smooth relative movement of the two handle sections. The abutting sections may be disc shaped.
The second handle section may include a lever to allow a user to turn the second handle section relative to the first handle section.
The activation means may extend between the second handle section and the container receiving portion. The activation means may include an elongate neck, which may be a rod. The neck may be secured at one end to the second handle section of the turning means, preferably to the lever.
The rod may extend into the container receiving means. A stopper may be secured to the rod within the container receiving means. The stopper may be adapted to engage a container placed in the container receiving means.
The neck of the activation means may be actuable to be urged towards the container receiving means by the second handle section. Movement of the neck portion may, in use, cause the stopper to press against a container held in the container receiving means. The container receiving means may include an abutment surface against which a container may be pushed by the stopper.
The container receiving means may be adapted to receive an aerosol spray container, in which case pressure on the base thereof, causing the container to bear against the container receiving means, may activate discharge of material from the container.
The container receiving means may comprise a cage, bars of which may be spaced to receive a container therebetween, preferably in a snap fitting manner. The container receiving means may be adapted to receive an aerosol container in an inverted orientation.
The recess locating means may comprise height adjustment means for the container receiving means. The neck of the turning means may be received in the height adjustment means, the neck may extend through the height adjustment means. The height adjustment means may provide a resilient bias to generally downward movement of the neck of the turning means. The neck of the turning means may include an abutment member for abutment against a resilient bias of the height adjustment means.
The height adjustment means may function separately from the activation means. The height adjustment means may permit material to be sprayed at different levels of the recess to be sprayed.
According to another aspect of the present invention a method of spraying material into the interior of a recess comprises locating a spraying device over a recess to be sprayed with recess locating means of the device; activating a discharge of material from a container of said material held in container receiving means with activation means of the device; and turning the container receiving means of the device relative to the recess with turning means of the device.
All of the above aspect may be combined with any of the features disclosed herein, in any combination.